Friday, March 30, 2018

An archaeologist excavates a skeleton in Cambridgeshire. Photograph: Highways

England/MOLA Headland Infrastructure

It’s taken more than 700 years, but the medieval villagers of Houghton in Cambridgeshire have had the last laugh: the foundations of their houses and workshops have been exposed again, as roadworks carve up the landscape they were forced to abandon when their woodlands were walled off into a royal hunting forest.Their lost village has been rediscovered in an epic excavation employing more than 200 archaeologists, working across scores of sites on a 21-mile stretch of flat Cambridgeshire countryside, the route of the upgraded A14 and the Huntingdon bypass.Much of it is now flat and rather featureless farmland, but the excavations have revealed how densely populated it was in the past, with scores of village sites, burial mounds, henges, trackways, industrial sites including pottery kilns and a Roman distribution centre. The archaeologists also found an Anglo-Saxon tribal boundary site with huge ditches, a gated entrance and a beacon on a hill that still overlooks the whole region.Read the rest of this article...

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Remains of the original apse built in 1077 was unearthed during excavation work at

St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Abbey has been confirmed as one of England's early Norman cathedrals after experts uncovered foundations of the early church.Remains forming part of the early Norman abbey have been identified after foundations of the 11th Century church were revealed during excavation.Site director Ross Lane said: "We knew it was probably there but this confirms it."Other Norman cathedrals in the UK include Durham and Canterbury.The Hertfordshire abbey is dedicated to Britain's first saint, St Alban - a citizen of Roman Verulamium - who was martyred by the Romans.The first church at the site was probably a simple structure over St Alban's grave, making this the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain.Read the rest of this article...

The Codex Regius, an Icelandic collection of poems about pagan gods, contains

a version of the Vǫluspá.

Credit: Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty

A series of Earth-shattering volcanic eruptions in Iceland during the Middle Ages may have spurred the people living there to turn away from their pagan gods and convert to Christianity, a new study finds.The discovery came about thanks to precise dating of the volcanic eruptions, which spewed lava about two generations before the Icelandic people changed religions.But why would volcanic eruptions turn people toward monotheism? The answer has to do with the "Vǫluspá," a prominent medieval poem that predicted a fiery eruption would help lead to the downfall of the pagan gods, the researchers said.

A HOTEL DEVELOPMENT in Dublin halted production last October when the remains of what appeared to be 12th century Irish structures were discovered, including an example of graffiti art carved onto a piece of slate.The Hodson Bay Hotel Group are developing a 234 room hotel at the site on Dean Street in The Coombe, to the west of the city centre.Archaeologists from Aisling Collins Archaeology Services (ACAS) were called in and found evidence of nine structures that are believed to date from as early as the 1100s.Five of the structures appear to be dwellings with smaller outhouses accompanying them that likely housed animals, the archaeologists say.Read the rest of this article...

ANSA) - Naples, March 23 - Major new finds have been unveiled for Friday's 270th anniversary of the discovery of the first remains of the ancient city of Pompeii buried by ash and rock following the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. The local archaeological authorities have marked the occasion by presenting major new excavations in the Regio V area launched under the auspices of the ongoing conservation project Great Pompeii. "Our aim was to resolve the instability of the excavation fronts in this area, which had a history of collapses," said special superintendent for Pompeii Massimo Osanna. "The work involved the reshaping of this part of the archaeological site. Then when we started digging we found remains of public and private areas, gardens and porticoes that we did not think we would find. It is the most important dig in the post-war period," he continued.Read the rest of this article...

Was it the fine pottery itself, or the artisans who made it, that moved around the Baltic Sea region during the Corded Ware Culture of late Neolithic period? Are the archaeological artefacts found in Finland imported goods or were they made out of Finnish clay by artisans who had mastered the new technology? These are the questions researchers are trying to answer in the most extensive original study of archaeological ceramics ever undertaken in the Nordic countries.Researchers mapped the arrival routes of pottery and people representing the Corded Ware Culture complex (c. 2900-2300 BCE) into the Nordic countries by identifying the areas where the pottery was made.Corded Ware pottery was very different from earlier Stone Age pottery. It represented a new technology and style, and as a new innovation, used crushed ceramics -- or broken pottery -- mixed in with the clay.

New archaeological sites on a small island off the coast of west Wales have been discovered.The laser scan of Ramsey Island uncovered a "hidden" landscape thought to date back to the Bronze Age.The survey, taken from the air, has also seen a detailed 3D model of the two mile-long beauty spot made for the first time.Experts say the data could also be used to see if climate change affects the environment on the island.Royal Commission archaeologist Dan Hunt described the findings as "incredible".He added: "It has presented us with a stunning view of the island in enormous detail."

Archaeologists excavating Neolithic tombs in Orkney are used to finding jumbled collections of bones

A new study could potentially transform our understanding of the way Neolithic people dealt with their dead.Archaeologists excavating Neolithic tombs in Orkney are used to finding jumbled collections of bones that seem unconnected.Now, work by Dr Rebecca Crozier, from the University of Aberdeen, suggests whole bodies were placed in the chambered structures.She said they could have been dismembered after being buried.She told BBC Radio Orkney: "What we're trying to do is look at all the bones and try and understand why they are in the mess that we finding them in.Read the rest of this article...

Did Vikings visit New Brunswick's Miramichi and Chaleur Bay areas? According to the research done by Birgitta Wallace, senior archaeologist emerita with Parks Canada, they did. "I'm really convinced that the Vikings did visit that area. Not all my colleagues would agree with me," said the woman who's been studying Vikings for 50 years.While she is certain the Vikings did spend time in Miramichi and Chaleur Bay, she says she is not hopeful of ever finding anything to prove it.Wallace said she determined that the second location that Vikings visited in North America, known as "Hóp," meaning "tidal lagoon," was in the Miramichi and Chaleur region after she studied the Vikings sagas. She also drew on her extensive work at L'Anse aux Meadows, located on the very northern tip of Newfoundland. Read the rest of this article...

The only known Viking site in North America is located at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. It was declared a World Heritage site.

Credit: WendyCotie/Shutterstock

A lost Viking settlement known as "Hóp," which has been mentioned in sagas passed down over hundreds of years, is said to have supported wild grapes, abundant salmon and inhabitants who made canoes out of animal hides. Now, a prominent archaeologist says the settlement likely resides in northeastern New Brunswick.If Hóp is found it would be the second Viking settlement to be discovered in North America. The other is at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland.Over the decades, scholars have suggested possible locations where the remains of Hóp might be found, including Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick (on the east coast of Canada), Nova Scotia, Maine, New England and New York. However, using the description of the settlement from sagas of Viking voyages, along with archaeological work carried out at L'Anse aux Meadows and at Native American sites along the east coast of North America, an archaeologist has narrowed down the likely location of Hóp to northeastern New Brunswick. The likeliest location there? The Miramichi-Chaleur bay area. Read the rest of this article...

Windwick Bay at South Ronaldsay, close to the site of the massive cliff top feast held more than 1,700 years ago. PIC: www.geography.co.uk

Archaeologists have identified the site of a huge Iron Age feast on Orkney where more than 10,000 animals were cooked and eaten in a vast cliff top celebration. Tests have shown that horses, cattle, red deer and otters were on the menu at the gathering above Windwick Bay, South Ronaldsay, more than 1,700 years ago.Archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands have been working at The Cairns for several years. A large number of jewellery fragments and tools have already been discovered at the site, where the remains of an Iron Age broch and metalworking site can be found, with recent radiocarbon tests carried out at a midden - or rubbish tip - nearby.Read the rest of this article...

The history of Utrecht begins at least 8,000 years earlier than was previously thought, local broadcaster RTV Utrecht reported this week. The discovery was made when archaeologists were digging at the site of the Prinses Máxima Centrum for children with cancer ahead of its expansion. The dig yielded traces of human habitation and objects from the early Stone Age, with some indications that Utrecht started as far back as 11,000 BC. ‘There have been prehistoric finds in Leidsche Rijn and Hoograven, particularly from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. But this discovery means the history of Utrecht started 8,000 years earlier than the history books tell us,’ Utrecht alderman Kees Geldof told the broadcaster. Not only were older indications of a human presence found at the site but the dig also showed evidence that the site had been inhabited without interruption throughout the Stone Age.Read the rest of this article...

Exclusive: Investigators have found writing equipment, cutlery and even ceramic beer mugs used by students and teachers going back 800 years

Oxford’s medieval secrets: a panorama of the development site and excavations

Photos Oxford Archaeology

Archaeologists have been unearthing the realities of daily life at Oxford University – as they were experienced some seven centuries ago.In one of Britain’s largest-ever urban excavations, investigators have found the writing equipment, refectory cutlery and even ceramic beer mugs used by students and teachers back in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.They’ve even been able to rediscover what Oxford’s medieval scholars were eating – a very wide range of food including beef, lamb, goose, salmon, trout and eggs.For the first time for many centuries, archaeologists were able to see substantial parts of one of the university’s greatest medieval teaching institutions – a friary established by Franciscan friars in 1224.It was of pivotal importance in the history of Oxford University.Read the rest of this article...

Thursday, March 01, 2018

Artefacts and structures found during archaeological excavations on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) project are shedding light on land use and settlement in the north east over the past 15,000 years, including Mesolithic pits, Roman bread ovens, prehistoric roundhouses and a cremation complex.

A beaker from the Chalcolithic period; a fluted carinated bowl from early Neolithic times; impressed ware from the middle Neolithic

[Credit: Transport Scotland]

Since the archaeological excavations were completed, specialists have been analysing the artefacts and samples recovered from the various sites and will be detailing the results in a new limited edition book due to be published later this year.Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work said: “When complete, the AWPR will help to reduce congestion, cut journey times, improve safety and lower pollution in Aberdeen City Centre, as well as enable local authorities to develop public transport solutions."

Archaeologists have resumed a dig at Welshpool's medieval castle.Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) held an open day at Victoria Bowling Club on Saturday from 10:00 GMT to 16:00 to present their findings to the public.Previous excavations found that parts of the building were well preserved."This year we are exploring the ditch around the castle mound," said CPAT community archaeologist Alex Sperr.Volunteers have been helping the trust to excavate the site."Although the castle is on a prominent site not many people know about it, and it is great that we can help raise the profile of this important piece of Welsh heritage," said Mr Sperr.Read the rest of this article...

Unfortunately, Martin Biddle's lecture 'Central Considerations: Winchester, the birth of Urban Archaeology, and The Future of London’s Past’ due to be held at the Museum of London on Friday, 2 March has had to be cancelled owing to transport problems due to the severe weather.

About Me

I am a freelance archaeologist and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland specializing in the medieval period. I have worked as a field archaeologist for the Department of Environment (Northern Ireland) and the Museum of London. I have been involved in continuing education for many years and have taught for the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE) and the Universities of London, Essex, Ulster, and the London College of the University of Notre Dame, and I was the Archaeological Consultant for Southwark Cathedral. I am the author of and tutor for an OUDCE online course on the Vikings, and the Programme Director and Academic Director for the Oxford Experience Summer School.